For context i recently just started a new game and the 3 Pc's are currently going in-between 2 cities for a quest, consequentially they will be going through a very untamed forest. i feel like it would be fun if the next session maybe even two (the distance is great between the cities) if they had to do wilderness survival, the party only features a fighter, rouge, and warlock so the cheese associated with druids and rangers in survival situations wont be as prevalent.
So i came here to ask for tips and ideas on how to make a survival situation; where resources will eventually run short; engaging, fun, and most of all challenging (but not in an annoying way) for the party. What ideas and advice do you guys have?
As an after note and just to share i have an idea i'm working on where while in the forest the players will have a sort of rival and or looming danger in being a home-brew creature i found called the "Weeping Wolf" (i found it on pintrest so idk if its home-brew of an official monster im not aware of) that is beyond the parties capabilities and i thought it could give them a chase and allow for creative ideas on how to escape and evade the creature along with tense moments of stealth.
There's several things you can do. In 2 of my campaigns right now I have 'scarcity rules' in effect. Encumbrance is turned on and ammo, rations and water are consumed. (Water is heavy!) Dealing with extreme heat or cold limits travel time before levels of exhaustion kick in. Not being able to find adequate camping can result in a level of exhaustion upon waking and/or will not remove current levels of exhaustion. There are already rules about the amount of food and water that needs to be consumed and the penalties for not doing so.
You should also be imposing movement penalties for difficult terrain and if it's extremely dense you could impose penalties on certain checks due to restricted sight and or sound distance.
I've also made foraging and hunting very difficult in certain locations. All of this combined has made the party have to fight the environment as much as any enemies I throw at them.
So those are the things I'm currently doing. Hope it helps :)
There are two common mechanics I really like. One is where the DM says something like “You’re deep into the forest and it’s getting hard to know if you’re still traveling the right direction. We need to make some skill checks to find out how you’re navigating.”
Then you make a skill check with whatever skill you can justify as helpful. “I’d like to use acrobatics to climb a tree and try to look for landmarks.” “I’d like to investigate the forest floor for signs of previous travel.” “I’d like to use History to recall stories of how others dealt with getting lost in the woods.”
You make a DC15 (or whatever, depending on how hard you want this to be.) check with that skill. If 50% or better of the players succeed, they navigate successfully. If more than half fail, there’s some consequence or encounter associated with it. “It takes you an extra day to make your way out of the forest. Mark another day’s rations off.” Or “All your tromping around has alerted a pack of Dire wolves to your presence. They are emerging one by one from behind trees and have you surrounded. Roll initiative.”
The other one I really like is used for chase scenes, but could be fun. In a variety of situations, like forest navigation. So you start by rolling initiative, and you have a table of maybe 10 complications that are associated with different skill checks. Each turn starts by rolling to see which complication they need to overcome. I’m shamelessly copying and pasting the chase table from In the Face of Fear (ALH: CCC-WWC-01) The party has successfully navigated the woods once they have accumulated a number of successes as a group equal to the number of players. Or when you say they have. :)
Complications d10
Complication
1
Your path takes you through a rough patch of brush. Make a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (your choice) to get past the brush without slowing your pace.
2
Uneven ground threatens to slow your progress. Make a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to navigate the area quickly.
3
You run through a swarm of bees. The swarm makes an opportunity attack against you; (+3 to hit; 4d4 piercing damage on a hit). If hit, you stagger momentarily, slowing your companions.
4
A small stream blocks your path. Make a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (your choice) to cross the impediment without slipping.
5
Make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, you are blinded by blowing pollen, slowing your party.
6
A sudden drop catches you by surprise. Make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw to navigate the obstruction. On a failed save, you fall 1d4 x 5 feet, taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet fallen as normal, and land prone.
7
You are caught in a stampede of wild sheep. Make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, you are knocked about and take 1d4 bludgeoning damage and 1d4 piercing damage.
8
Your path takes you near a patch of razorvine. Make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw to avoid it or willingly succeed by taking 2d10 slashing damage as you run through it with reckless abandon.
9
A large rock breaks loose as you scramble over the top of a ridgeline. Make a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to prevent the rock from falling and hitting other members of your party. If you fail, every member of your party (except you) takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
Oh yeah, Nice one kcbcollier. I forgot about the tables! There are wilderness survival tables that start on pg 109 of the DMG. (which is pretty much where all the rules I mentioned come from with a little tweaking in my campaigns) The table provided above is great and there are many others out there. Some home made and others that are parts of existing modules.
Use exhaustion. I often prefer that to "you loose three hours". Exhaustion has a direct in game effect. If they keep pushing on, it will start to become really difficult.
Don't allow long rests to restore HP due to the "bad conditions" - or go for the even more hardcore don't allow long rests (you'll need to be really careful with damage on this one).
Try to create clear "goals": like, you can push for that hill which seems like a good place to sleep, or you can try to find a decent spot in this swamp. Give rewards/punishment accordingly. Pushing for that hill is certainly more difficult and dangerous, but if they reach it, they are relatively safe. Sleeping in the swamp, they don't risk exhaustion, but might risk other things.
And yes - random tables :-)
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Ludo ergo sum!
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For context i recently just started a new game and the 3 Pc's are currently going in-between 2 cities for a quest, consequentially they will be going through a very untamed forest. i feel like it would be fun if the next session maybe even two (the distance is great between the cities) if they had to do wilderness survival, the party only features a fighter, rouge, and warlock so the cheese associated with druids and rangers in survival situations wont be as prevalent.
So i came here to ask for tips and ideas on how to make a survival situation; where resources will eventually run short; engaging, fun, and most of all challenging (but not in an annoying way) for the party. What ideas and advice do you guys have?
As an after note and just to share i have an idea i'm working on where while in the forest the players will have a sort of rival and or looming danger in being a home-brew creature i found called the "Weeping Wolf" (i found it on pintrest so idk if its home-brew of an official monster im not aware of) that is beyond the parties capabilities and i thought it could give them a chase and allow for creative ideas on how to escape and evade the creature along with tense moments of stealth.
There's several things you can do. In 2 of my campaigns right now I have 'scarcity rules' in effect. Encumbrance is turned on and ammo, rations and water are consumed. (Water is heavy!) Dealing with extreme heat or cold limits travel time before levels of exhaustion kick in. Not being able to find adequate camping can result in a level of exhaustion upon waking and/or will not remove current levels of exhaustion. There are already rules about the amount of food and water that needs to be consumed and the penalties for not doing so.
You should also be imposing movement penalties for difficult terrain and if it's extremely dense you could impose penalties on certain checks due to restricted sight and or sound distance.
I've also made foraging and hunting very difficult in certain locations. All of this combined has made the party have to fight the environment as much as any enemies I throw at them.
So those are the things I'm currently doing. Hope it helps :)
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
There are two common mechanics I really like. One is where the DM says something like “You’re deep into the forest and it’s getting hard to know if you’re still traveling the right direction. We need to make some skill checks to find out how you’re navigating.”
Then you make a skill check with whatever skill you can justify as helpful. “I’d like to use acrobatics to climb a tree and try to look for landmarks.” “I’d like to investigate the forest floor for signs of previous travel.” “I’d like to use History to recall stories of how others dealt with getting lost in the woods.”
You make a DC15 (or whatever, depending on how hard you want this to be.) check with that skill. If 50% or better of the players succeed, they navigate successfully. If more than half fail, there’s some consequence or encounter associated with it. “It takes you an extra day to make your way out of the forest. Mark another day’s rations off.” Or “All your tromping around has alerted a pack of Dire wolves to your presence. They are emerging one by one from behind trees and have you surrounded. Roll initiative.”
The other one I really like is used for chase scenes, but could be fun. In a variety of situations, like forest navigation. So you start by rolling initiative, and you have a table of maybe 10 complications that are associated with different skill checks. Each turn starts by rolling to see which complication they need to overcome. I’m shamelessly copying and pasting the chase table from In the Face of Fear (ALH: CCC-WWC-01) The party has successfully navigated the woods once they have accumulated a number of successes as a group equal to the number of players. Or when you say they have. :)
Complications d10
Complication
1
Your path takes you through a rough patch of brush. Make a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (your choice) to get past the brush without slowing your pace.
2
Uneven ground threatens to slow your progress. Make a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to navigate the area quickly.
3
You run through a swarm of bees. The swarm makes an opportunity attack against you; (+3 to hit; 4d4 piercing damage on a hit). If hit, you stagger momentarily, slowing your companions.
4
A small stream blocks your path. Make a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (your choice) to cross the impediment without slipping.
5
Make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, you are blinded by blowing pollen, slowing your party.
6
A sudden drop catches you by surprise. Make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw to navigate the obstruction. On a failed save, you fall 1d4 x 5 feet, taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet fallen as normal, and land prone.
7
You are caught in a stampede of wild sheep. Make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, you are knocked about and take 1d4 bludgeoning damage and 1d4 piercing damage.
8
Your path takes you near a patch of razorvine. Make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw to avoid it or willingly succeed by taking 2d10 slashing damage as you run through it with reckless abandon.
9
A large rock breaks loose as you scramble over the top of a ridgeline. Make a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to prevent the rock from falling and hitting other members of your party. If you fail, every member of your party (except you) takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
10
No complication (counts as an automatic success).
Oh yeah, Nice one kcbcollier. I forgot about the tables! There are wilderness survival tables that start on pg 109 of the DMG. (which is pretty much where all the rules I mentioned come from with a little tweaking in my campaigns) The table provided above is great and there are many others out there. Some home made and others that are parts of existing modules.
That's what happens when you wear a helmet your whole life!
My house rules
A few tips/ideas:
Use exhaustion. I often prefer that to "you loose three hours". Exhaustion has a direct in game effect. If they keep pushing on, it will start to become really difficult.
Don't allow long rests to restore HP due to the "bad conditions" - or go for the even more hardcore don't allow long rests (you'll need to be really careful with damage on this one).
Try to create clear "goals": like, you can push for that hill which seems like a good place to sleep, or you can try to find a decent spot in this swamp. Give rewards/punishment accordingly. Pushing for that hill is certainly more difficult and dangerous, but if they reach it, they are relatively safe. Sleeping in the swamp, they don't risk exhaustion, but might risk other things.
And yes - random tables :-)
Ludo ergo sum!